Keep your eyes on the road, hands upon the wheel–A South West RT-The End!Bonus Tracks

[dgbg100106]

I am finally back from 2 weeks away and all caught up…

Alison, your sunrise pictures are beautiful! Sorry you were having trouble with camera, but you got some beauties.

I hate it that Fran was having a rough day of it, I know it makes it hard, so are you glad you did the private tour guide?

Thanks for the head’s up on the RV parking at Gouling’s!

That fry bread looks amazing! I would like mine with honey I am sure!
Your jewelry find was perfect, the necklace is beautiful!

Glad you found “Mexican Hat”
Sorry about the dust and wind and not being able to go out for your last tour, but YEA on coming back in two years!

Beautiful photos of the sunrise on the last morning too.


Love, LOVE, and LOVE!!! The jewelry you got in Tuba City!

 

[Leshaface]

I think that's a great idea to frame some of your shots for the new house. You got some great pictures, even though they weren't from the tours like you probably would have liked.

Yay to another fry burger!

Thanks for the info on the jewelry and pawn shop and that belt is pretty awesome!

 

[Pinkocto]

All caught up! you certainly saw some gorgeous scenery and took some amazing photos. Sounds like you had fun figuring out the camera again.

Total bummer about the two missed tours but the one you did get to do looked great.

Loving all the jewelry, wow. I must one day try this fry bread

Looking forward to the next part of the adventure

 

[Misskitty3]

Love your sunrise photos! Just beautiful!

That fry bread looks amazing.......and is making me hungry!

Love the jewelry and belt buckle!

 

[franandaj]

This one is my favorite. All are awesome but this scene seems "peaceful".

Kate

It was very peaceful there in the morning.

Beautiful sunrise pics and cool turquoise. Fran picked up a great piece. I guess I'll have to wake up early one morning if I ever get a chance to stay there.

Yes, you do have get up early there, but it's not hard, I was up before dawn all three mornings.

Gorgeous sunrise shots, Alison!
The hard thing is to pick which one to blow up for the wall.


And the jewellery is amazing! Well done and great shopping. You got lovely lovely pieces.

We didn't go the long way round. I knew we made a mistake when we got to Tuba City so I made DH turn around and head back up the 89. It was definitely about 90 minutes quicker to turn around than to head towards the alternative route.

Thanks! It will be a tough choice, I like them all!

Ooops! Did you go to MV first or Page? Now I forget.

The sunrise photos are stunning!

Love the jewelry...the belt is truly a work of art.

Jill in CO

Thank you! I hope to get many more beautiful pictures on my travels.

Beautiful sunrise photos I really like the first necklace and of course you know I am thinking about that beautiful young horse out there

Thanks! I felt so bad for the horse, you could tell by the way he was running back and forth that he wasn't where he/she was supposed to be and was rather agitated.

Wow wow wow on the jewelry. Love big turquoise pieces.

I'm even wearing the necklace and a barrette today.

I am finally back from 2 weeks away and all caught up…

Alison, your sunrise pictures are beautiful! Sorry you were having trouble with camera, but you got some beauties.

I hate it that Fran was having a rough day of it, I know it makes it hard, so are you glad you did the private tour guide?

Thanks for the head’s up on the RV parking at Gouling’s!

That fry bread looks amazing! I would like mine with honey I am sure!
Your jewelry find was perfect, the necklace is beautiful!

Glad you found “Mexican Hat”
Sorry about the dust and wind and not being able to go out for your last tour, but YEA on coming back in two years!

Beautiful photos of the sunrise on the last morning too.


Love, LOVE, and LOVE!!! The jewelry you got in Tuba City!

I hope that you had a nice trip! I've got more RV tips for you at the next location. I could use some frybread right now. That stuff is mighty tasty.

Yeah, we need a do-over to get the tours we weren't able to do this time.

I think that's a great idea to frame some of your shots for the new house. You got some great pictures, even though they weren't from the tours like you probably would have liked.

Yay to another fry burger!

Thanks for the info on the jewelry and pawn shop and that belt is pretty awesome!

I'm just imagining something with the night sky lighting one of those rock features and the stars in the background. Next time.

I was happy that I finally ordered the fry burger. The pawn shop was a really good find. It took us a long time there because there was only the one lady working and it still was a pawn shop. People kept coming to pawn or pick up their stuff!

All caught up! you certainly saw some gorgeous scenery and took some amazing photos. Sounds like you had fun figuring out the camera again.

Total bummer about the two missed tours but the one you did get to do looked great.

Loving all the jewelry, wow. I must one day try this fry bread

Looking forward to the next part of the adventure

We did see some awesome scenery and we aren't done yet either!

Love your sunrise photos! Just beautiful!

That fry bread looks amazing.......and is making me hungry!

Love the jewelry and belt buckle!

Thank you. If you get the chance you must try fry bread, sooo good! Like I said, I'm wearing the necklace right now.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I am all caught up.

I wish you a very belated Happy Birthday. I was a little pre-occupied with my own travels.

What a shame about the car drama. I hope everything is sorted now.
The burgers look yummy. I don't think In and Out Burgers have made it to the UK yet, but while we were in the USA, Five Guys opened in our hometown so I have to sample this before too long.

The sunset was beautiful. I had to smile when I read that Fran spend $200 to get $242 back. At least she came out ahead of the game.
The breakfast buffet looks great. What a shame that you did not get it for free. It is great that you can use the free buffet at another time though. I would have been in heaven with Chicken Fried Steak, Hush Puppies and Biscuits with Gravy.

I love the photos that you took on the way to Flagstaff. The scenery in amazing. Good job that you got to see some cars after all. I would have loved to try that hot dog.

I am with Fran on that some things you have to do a few times over. We have had trips of a lifetime at the rate of twice a year since 2010 and will carry on doing so as long as health and money allows.

Lunch at Tuba City looked nice and I love all the turquoise jewellery. Your room at the View Hotel is huge and I love the view. That sunset is stunning even if it was in the wrong spot.

I love your sunrise pictures from the tour and those colours are just stunning. Lunch looked amazing again and I love that jewellery set. What a shame that you did not get to do the starlight tour Or the sunset tour, but at least you have an incentive to go back.

I love your sunrise photos from the last morning at Monument valley. That jewellery is quite a find.

Corinna

 

[franandaj]

We were on our way out of Indian country and onto new adventures (little did we know). We started up Interstate 89 towards Page where we would be making another short grocery stop to replenish some supplies and pick up some things I had overlooked.

On the road to Page we saw more impressive rock formations.





As we looked at the sky in front of us, we thought “Tut, tut, it looks like rain.” Doesn’t this picture also look like the Jerry Bruckheimer picture at the end of the NCIS episodes, or is that CSI?



As we neared Page, there were big rock features and carved canyons. Then I remembered that this was the country for the slot canyon tours. Maybe next time.



After making our stop in Page, we headed north towards the Utah border. Crossing the Colorado River and the Dam which creates Lake Powell.



Nice Bridge



The star of our Road Trip.



And a look at the Dam from the other side.



Back at Lake Powell



As we got back on the road, the clouds looked even more ominous.



The temperature had dropped considerably.



The mountains with their layers of sedimentary rock were just stunning. Believe me people, I edited these pictures quite heavily!



It was interesting here that we were in light rain under dark storm clouds, yet off in the distance we could see sunlight on the ridge of mountains ahead.



We had a little bit of disagreement upon what was the temperature and consistency of the substance that was hitting our car.



At first I thought it was hail, but clearly, it was snowing out.



And the temperature had dropped yet again.



Visibility was becoming a problem and being Southern California Girls who rarely see watery substances, we slowed down.



And now the snow was actually gathering on our windshield? It’s the first week of May for Pete’s sake!



Then we came upon this.



It turns out that this accident had just happened. The first emergency responders showed up just as we were passing the second vehicle. I stopped taking pictures after I saw that vehicle. I’m not sure that the people in the other vehicle survived. We were lucky to make it through that stretch of road because I’m pretty sure that once all the ambulances and other responders arrived, the road was probably shut down for a few hours.



Counting our blessings, we moved on.



[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

They definitely have some rural housing in this part of the country.



We made a stop at a McDonald’s in Kanab, which would turn out to be the largest city that we would see for days. We exchanged stories about the accident with a couple other patrons who were on the same stretch of road with us. And then we moved on, the weather was as nice as could be.



There was a small amount of civilization here at the turn off for Zion Canyon.



You could see the Mountains off in the distance.



We drove through several little towns.





And the snow came back!



At this point I texted Jenny and said, “I thought you told me it would be beautiful weather in Utah!”



To which she replied, “I told you Utah sucks!”



We started to come down out of it.



And it seemed as though we were approaching civilization again.





And then here it came again….



It was beautiful to see all of these red rocks capped with snow.





The thing that I was dreading was that we were in no way prepared clothes-wise for weather this cold.



The arch in the road was kinda cool.



But it was just getting colder and colder and more and more snow.





We were getting closer to our destination.



We couldn’t believe that these signs were all covered in snow.



Ruby’s Inn pretty much owns the town right outside of Bryce Canyon National Park, so as soon as I saw the signs for Ruby’s, I knew we were almost there! More RV parking Brandi! Can you imagine staying in one of those TeePee’s for camping? Brrrrrrr!



And there it is! The Money shot!



[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

The Lodge at Bryce Canyon is located inside the park. For whatever reason I really wanted to stay here, I guess because of it’s proximity to the park, probably a little because of Ellen talking about the Awahnee. BTW the same designer who did the Awahnee also designed the Bryce Canyon Lodge although this one was far less grand. Don’t get me wrong, it is still very nice, it just did not have the grandiose lobby and the buildings where rooms were located were spread out into many different smaller buildings.

Here we are entering the National Park.



This is the front of the main lodge building. Back in the day when they were promoting tourism to the National Parks and the lodges were new and destinations for celebrity tourists, the cars used to drive in front of the lodge like this:



This is what it looks like several decades later.





It was quaint and cozy inside.





Fran was enjoying the warmth of the fire.



I’m sure that this is payback to me for this Winter. All you folks on the East Coast have been suffering through snow storm after snow storm while us folks in Southern California have been experiencing record high temperatures, to the point that we are even in a severe drought. I suppose that I may have been a little too smug about our lack of severe weather and the universe was paying me back for that.

It was * C * O * L * D * !!!!!!



Especially since neither of us brought jackets for SNOW!!!!!!!!



Look you can even see it starting to gather on the mirror!



We drove over to our building and I proceeded to unload the car while little flakes of snow dropped on me.



At least the room was cozy.









Notice anything missing?



Can you believe that I booked us into a hotel with no Television? Actually I didn’t really miss it at all. This was one place where we really were in the room mostly to sleep.

[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

Here are some shots of the exterior of the building while I was unpacking the car.







You all know that I love me a stocked pantry.



And fridge





Then it was time for dinner. Frito Pie.

Just heat up your chili, serve up your chips…



Normally I do this in the oven, but the microwave worked just fine, add cheese and heat.



Add the veggies of your choice, and dollop with Sour Cream. I just prefer to put the sour cream on each individual bite, but you can do it either way.



We were having dinner at around 9:30 at night, so after dinner, and a little bit of computer fun (which did not involve the Internet), we both went to sleep.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I can't believe that it snowed in May. We had a similar experience on our road trip in 2006, but that was in the first half of April. All our research indicated that it would be hot everywhere we were going and we arrived at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and there was snow. All be had was t shirts and a couple of sweatshirts.

The main lodge building so reminds me of the Grand Californian.

Corinna

 

[ACDSNY]

The snow on the rocks looks cool and you're probably right it was payback for mentioning being sleeveless in the winter.

 

[scottny]

LOL. The way you went to get salt.
That is a nice view from the room.
Too bad you couldn’t do the tour.
Dobby.
Nice sunrise pics.
Nice jewelry you all got.
Pretty pics along the way.
Uh-oh! Snow? In May that is not allowed.
Scary accident.
Love seeing the snow on the trees.
Love the arch over the road.
That is wimpy snow. LOL.
NO TV? I would move. LOL
All caught up again.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Snow in May???


Wait....you're in Utah! Right, Jenny??



WOW! You really drove through rain, snow and a bad/sad crash. That accident looks terrible.

That red rock country really is stunning, isn't it?

Looking forward to Bryce.

 

[rentayenta]

Snow!


The Frito pie looks delicious! Nice room too even without the tv.


Rocks with snow *yawn*. Is that how you feel when I post beach pics? LOL!

 

[jedijill]

I'm about the snow. Remember when I started posting my trip report a couple of weeks ago because of a 2 day snow storm here in Denver. I was up in the mountains yesterday and Trail Ridge Road was closed again due to 6 inches of snow....It hailed and snowed on me quite a bit yesterday.

That frito pie looks delicious!

Jill in CO

 

[Pinkocto]

That accident looked terrible!

How far did you drive that day? The temperature difference is extreme to say the least.

Your frito pie is remnisant of what us Adventists call a 'haystack'. Chips on the bottom, beans and onions (if you're so inclined), cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, and sourcream on top. Of course you can leave off the olives. YUMMY!

Your room looks nice and comfortable.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Wow! That accident looked pretty scary. I'm glad you were able to arrive at Bryce safely.

I don't know if snow in May is karma or not, but it did look nice on all of those red rock formations. Your pictures are getting me excited about this summer!

 

[Misskitty3]

Once again, stunning pictures! Sorry you had to drive thru the snow and deal with super cold temps but.....a sprinkling of white snow on red rocks is soooo beautiful (at least to those of us that don't live in Utah ). The one and only time I have had the opportunity to visit the Grand Canyon was during the month of January. Just stunning with snow!

That Frito Pie is absolutely one of the yummiest looking food pics I have ever seen!!. Btw, I am enjoying reading and seeing the pictures of the meals you prepare while travelling. You have a lot of great ideas and a nice variety too!

 

[dgbg100106]

Thanks for the call out and remembering me and my trip!

Sorry about the accident and prayers for all involved.

The snow, the weather has been crazy around the US this year.

Glad you made it safely, and arrived to a nice warm room. Who needs TV?